1799 : Rosetta Stone found
On this day in 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign, a
French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient
writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria.
The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written
in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian
demotic. The ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone told archaeologists
that it was inscribed by priests honoring the king of Egypt, Ptolemy
V, in the second century B.C. More startlingly, the Greek passage
announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning. The
artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a
written language that had been "dead" for nearly 2,000 years.
When Napoleon, an emperor known for his enlightened view of education,
art and culture, invaded Egypt in 1798, he took along a group of
scholars and told them to seize all important cultural artifacts for
France. Pierre Bouchard, one of Napoleon's soldiers, was aware of this
order when he found the basalt stone, which was almost four feet long
and two-and-a-half feet wide, at a fort near Rosetta. When the British
defeated Napoleon in 1801, they took possession of the Rosetta Stone.
Several scholars, including Englishman Thomas Young made progress with
the initial hieroglyphics analysis of the Rosetta Stone. French
Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832), who had taught
himself ancient languages, ultimately cracked the code and deciphered
the hieroglyphics using his knowledge of Greek as a guide.
Hieroglyphics used pictures to represent objects, sounds and groups of
sounds. Once the Rosetta Stone inscriptions were translated, the
language and culture of ancient Egypt was suddenly open to scientists
as never before.
The Rosetta Stone has been housed at the British Museum in London
since 1802, except for a brief period during World War I. At that
time, museum officials moved it to a separate underground location,
along with other irreplaceable items from the museum's collection, to
protect in from the threat of bombs.
history.com/tdih.do
1553 : Lady Jane Grey deposed
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5190
1848 : Seneca Falls Convention begins
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6963
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On this day in 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign, a
French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient
writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria.
The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written
in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian
demotic. The ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone told archaeologists
that it was inscribed by priests honoring the king of Egypt, Ptolemy
V, in the second century B.C. More startlingly, the Greek passage
announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning. The
artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a
written language that had been "dead" for nearly 2,000 years.
When Napoleon, an emperor known for his enlightened view of education,
art and culture, invaded Egypt in 1798, he took along a group of
scholars and told them to seize all important cultural artifacts for
France. Pierre Bouchard, one of Napoleon's soldiers, was aware of this
order when he found the basalt stone, which was almost four feet long
and two-and-a-half feet wide, at a fort near Rosetta. When the British
defeated Napoleon in 1801, they took possession of the Rosetta Stone.
Several scholars, including Englishman Thomas Young made progress with
the initial hieroglyphics analysis of the Rosetta Stone. French
Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832), who had taught
himself ancient languages, ultimately cracked the code and deciphered
the hieroglyphics using his knowledge of Greek as a guide.
Hieroglyphics used pictures to represent objects, sounds and groups of
sounds. Once the Rosetta Stone inscriptions were translated, the
language and culture of ancient Egypt was suddenly open to scientists
as never before.
The Rosetta Stone has been housed at the British Museum in London
since 1802, except for a brief period during World War I. At that
time, museum officials moved it to a separate underground location,
along with other irreplaceable items from the museum's collection, to
protect in from the threat of bombs.
history.com/tdih.do
1553 : Lady Jane Grey deposed
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5190
1848 : Seneca Falls Convention begins
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6963
###########################################
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